This page created on 12th July 1998, revised 30th July 1998

1959: into Service

The production buses started to trickle off the lines at Southall (AEC)
and Park Royal in May 1959, after RM8 in September 1958.
A trickle it was, to start with, with just fourteen buses by the end of June,
thirty-one by the end of July...

Meanwhile the first three stages of the trolleybus conversions
(Carshalton and Bexleyheath in March, Clapton and Lea Bridge in April,
Bow and Ilford in August) had been managed using surplus RTs.
The RMs were put into service or used as trainers,
working from bus garages (as distinct from trolleybus depots).
This provided invaluable information about the performance of the class
on a variety of services with a variety of maintenance regimes.
The garages and routes for this trial running are summarised in the table
(more detail is in the Appendices):

Garage

Routes

CL, Clay Hall

trainers

AC, Willesden

8, Old Ford - Wembley

R, Riverside

11, Liverpool St - Shepherds Bush

W, Cricklewood

2, Crystal Palace - Golders Green

H, Hackney

22, Putney Common - Homerton

U, Upton Park

trainers

V, Turnham Green

91, Wandsworth Bdg - Hounslow West Stn27(Sun) Archway- Hampton Court

AR, Tottenham

76 (Victoria - Lwr Edmonton Stn), 34B (Brimsdown-Edmonton)

RM9 in 1998 has gained opening front windows and a later grille during its half-century.
Back in 1958 it went first to Clay Hall as a trainer, then to West Ham for service.

Early production RM

Poplar sticks in my mind as the first place that I came across service
Routemasters en masse, when I ventured over the Woolwich Ferry
on my bike, and cycled up through the busy London Docks to Poplar.
The view through the depot door was amazing to a youngster from RT-land
(Bromley). So was the return via the Blackwall Tunnel, on the walkway:
it wasn't a motorway then, but it was quite an experience!

But back to 1959: the Routemasters were not an unalloyed success!
They were very different beasts from the very familar trolleys that they replaced.
Engineering faults abounded, so that very soon many of the original
allocation were replaced whilst the originals returned for fault analysis.

West Ham did better for new buses in stage 6, receiving 61 RMs in March and April,
all new to passenger service (with a few ex trainers),
most having opening quarterlights at the front.
Walthamstow again was the other depot, getting 44 buses, including the remaining five of the early trials buses.
The trolley routes that went were the 623 (Woodford - Manor House Stn),
625 (Woodford - Wood Green (- Winchmore Hill)), 687 (Walthamstow - V&A Docks),
697 and 699 (Chingford Mount - V&A Docks), the remaining network in the East End.
The replacement bus services formed a new network rather than direct replacements,
and saw the closure of Forest Gate (G).
The RTs from G joined the RMs in WH, and shared the extended 69 and new 249A with RMs.

RM16, with opening windows and a later livery, is now preserved.
It was new to passenger service at West Ham in stage 6. (Showbus, 1997)

Garage

Routes

WH

278: Walthamstow - V&A Docks

WH

69 (some RTs): North Woolwich - Chingford Mount

WH, WW

249:

WH

249A (some RTs):

WH

299 (nights): Chingford - V&A Docks

WH

41 (shared with AR RTWs): Archway - Tottenham - Stratford

WW

123: Archway - Tottenham - Manor House Stn

WW

275: Walthamstow Central - Woodford Bridge

G

closed: RTs to WW

RMs now had opening front quarterdrop windows.

Stage 7, July 1960

West and North-west London took the next trolleybus hit,
with Hammersmith Depot (HB) closing for bus work
and Highgate (HT) converting to RMs.
Hammersmith lost trolley routes 626 (Acton - Clapham Junction),
628 (Craven Park - Clapham Junction) and 630 (Harrow Road - West Croydon),
while Highgate lost the steep-hill route 611 (Moorgate- Highgate)
with its specially-braked trolleybuses.
Hammersmith Depot was converted to be the base for the
BEA RFs,
and the replacement bus services operated from Shepherds Bush (S)
and Elmers End (ED)

RM 349 was new to Shepherds Bush in stage 7
and is now preserved. (North Weald, 1998)

Garage

Routes

S

220: Mitcham - Harlesden

S

268: Golders Green Stn - Finchley Road Stn

ED

64 (extra workings): Addington - Tooting Broadway

HT

271: Highgate Village - Moorgate

HB

converted for BEA coaches

Further new RMs trickled to join the existing allocations during the summer and autumn,
compensating for the RM's continuing trials and tribulations,
and providing spares whilst others were cycled through recall processes.
RM 422 went to the Commercial Motor Show in September, but was considered yesterday's news.

Stage 8, November 1960

Hanwell Depot (HL) (as distinct from Hanwell Garage (HW), now renamed Southall),
was the next recipient of RMs, as trolleybus routes 607 (Uxbridge-Shepherds Bush Green)
and 655 (Acton Vale - Brentford (- Hammersmith (- Clapham Junction))) were deleted.
Hanwell actually received new buses twice over,
as about half its first lot were replaced before the year end
by an experimental batch with non-automatic gear changing.
The originals went into store, mainly at Holloway (J), Cricklewood (W) and Stonebridge (SE).

Thirty-seven years old: the aluminium structure of RM597 still looks good under the paint,
whilst undergoing restoration and a repaint in 1998 (Cobham Open Day).
It was new to Highgate in stage 8.

Garage

Routes

HT

17: North Finchley - Farringdon Street.

HT

214: Parliament Hill Fields - Moorgate

HT

239: Hampsteads Heath - Moorgate

HT

253: Aldgate - Warren Street Stn

HT

N93: Trafalgar Square - Hampstead Heath

HT

143 (ex-RT): Archway Stn - Hendon Central Stn

HT

63, shared with PM (RT): Parliament Hill Fields - Crystal Palace

Stage 10, April 1961

More North London trolleybus routes went this time, worked by Highgate (HT), Edmonton (EM) and Wood Green (WN):
627 (Tottenham Court Rd - Waltham Cross), 629 (Tottenham Court Rd - Enfield Town),
659 (Holborn Circus - Waltham Cross) and 679 (Smithfield - Waltham Cross).
There were direct replacements, plus some new routes.
West Green garage, due to close shortly, received five RMs too for use on the 269.
This would have left Highgate with just a Sunday trolleybus requirement on the 609,
alongside Finchley's trolleys. This was met by allocating RMs to the 609 on Sundays.

RM642 started work from Wood Green,
but has since acquired a different grille
(and probably several different bodies altogether!).
Now preserved. (Showbus 97).

Garage

Routes

HT, EM

127: Victoria - Waltham Cross

HT, WN

259: Holborn Circus - Lower Edmonton Stn

HT

276: Streatham - Tottenham

HT

609 (Sundays, with FY trolleys): Barnet Church - Moorgate

EM

279: Smithfield - Waltham Cross

EM

279A: Tottenham Hale Stn - Flamstead End

HT, EM

253:

WG, WN

269: Tottenham Court Road - Enfield

In July Highgate received an oddity: RM 664, the unpainted RM.
This was a trial, to see how well the aluminium construction of the RM coped
without external paint. Underground trains were now running without paint,
and paintless buses would be significantly lighter.
RM 664 carried advertising for the Daily Express, on all panels at first,
but latterly only on the sides. It stayed at Highgate until December 1962,
then circulated around a variety of locations: Poplar (12/62), Rye Lane (1/63),
Mortlake (9/63), Stonebridge (12/63), Finchley (1/64); Cricklewood (3/64),
Hanwell (5/64), Fulwell (7/64), Shepherds Bush (10/64) and Walthamstow (2/65).
After three and a half years it was looking grubby:
garages found it impossible to match replacement panels to the patina of the old,
giving it a gently pie-bald look.
It was despatched to Dorking in mid-July for preparation for painting,
which was carried out at Hounslow.
In August 1965 it restarted work from New Cross garage as just another red RM.

RM737 at Showbus 97.
It was new to Highgate in stage 10.

There was also a reshuffle when building work at Stamford Hill was complete,
and Edmonton's temporary allocation on the 253 was transferred.

Stage 12, November 1961

Stage 12 saw
Wood Green's conversion completed, and Finchley's started.
Routes that lost trolleybuses were the 521/621 (North Finchley - Holborn Circus),
609 (Barnet Church -Moorgate), and 641 (Winchmore Hill - Moorgate).
The latter was replaced by the 141,
but that also took over the old tram-replacement route 179 to Grove Park,
so a RM allocation was made to New Cross for that.
Finchley's conversion also introduced the longer Routemaster, the RML, for the first time.

Garage

Routes

FY

104: Barnet Church - Moorgate

WN, NX

141: Winchmore Hill - Grove Park

RM872 went new to Finchley at stage 13. Its dome looking battered by tree strikes, it is seen at Cobham Open Day 1998.

Stage 13, January 1962

This was the last stage of the original trolleybus conversion plan.
The trolleys in North London, and in the North-west, would go,
leaving just the South-western network with post-war trolleybuses.
So Finchley finished its conversion, and Stonebridge and Colindale both went in one fell swoop,
Colindale permanently. Trolley routes to go were:
645 (Barnet Church - Canons Park), 660 (North finchley - Hammersmith Bdy.),
662 (Sudbury - Paddington Green) and 666 (Edgware - Hammersmith Bdy.).
Finchley and Stonebridge both received RMs, as did Cricklewood and Middle Row.
Simultaneously Wood Green gave its allocation for the 259 to Tottenham.

RM 1000 stands next to RM 1001 at Showbus 97.
RM 1001 was the first of the two into service,
in January 1962 at Middle Row (X),
and after a suitable ceremony RM 1000 went to Finchley in March.

Garage

Routes

X

293 (peaks): Acton - Paddington

X, SE

18 (with RTs from ON): Aldenham Works - Wembley

FY, SE

260: Barnet - Hammersmith Broadway

SE, W

266: Edgware Stn - Hammersmith Broadway

W

245: North Finchley - West Hendon

AR

259: Holborn Circus - Lower Edmonton Stn

New Cross received some extra RMs for use on the Round-London Sightseeing Tour.